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Is enough being done to encourage young women into engineering?

Sunday 29 June saw the return of International Women in Engineering Day. A day that celebrates the women that make a difference in the engineering sector and alsohighlights the challenges the industry still faces in encouraging young women into an engineering career.

In research conducted bySubconin early 2019, it states that 59% of businesses in the UK believed that enough was being done to encourage women into the industry.

Victoria Greenwell and Sarah Jopling are bothSiteManagers at Seymour Civil Engineering who are proud of their chosen career paths.

Victoria, 33, has been qualified forten yearsand is now aSiteManager.Victoria is currently managing the £1.3mPort of TyneContainer Improvement Scheme Project.

She said: “I’m passionate about my job and I wantto be the best.

“When I was young there were no females in the industry that I looked up toas it was a male dominated industry. Femalerole models are so important to the coming generation of female workers.Ideally weneed to bring womenat anearlystage of their careersand let them work their way to senior positionsto gain valuable experience. Then theycan helpinfluence the next generation.

“For me it’s happening. I just think it will take time. Starting them young with apprenticeship schemes is a brilliant way to begin butitwon’t happen overnight.

“It’s only been the last couple of years where the industry has been marketedmorefor women butit is a gradual transition – getting more women into the industry will take time. You never know in 5 year’s time I may be sitting here with a lot more women beside me in senior positions.

Sarah, 28, Site Manager on Sunderland’sHyltonCastle projectonbehalf of William Birch, said: “It’s important to attract and retain the next generation of young women in the sector. It should be a normal thing to see a mixture of male and female workers on a construction site.

“More and more people like myself, setting examples within senior roles are helping to change that perception within the industry.

“Seymour has done a lot to encourage women into the industry. I’ve been given opportunities from Kevin Byrne, our MD, to join institutes such as NAWIC and I know we invest a lot of time and effort into STEM activities at local schools and colleges.

“That doesn’t mean that more can’t be done to attract women at a younger age. It’s important for women like myself to be put in front of young women to show them this is what an engineer is in the 21stcentury.

“Schoolsand businesseshave a responsibility to show children the options they have when they are young.

“It’s a massive choice that will affect the rest of your life and I feel children need to have more information. The industry needs to support schools with this and get towomen when they’re younger to show them the possibilities of what they can become.”

According to UK Engineering, only12.37% of all engineers in the UK are women but when asked, 46.4% of girls 11-14 would consider a career in engineering. This shows that the interest from younger women is there. It’s up to education and the industry to work together to ensure the enthusiasm of these young people grows.